VIDEO: Participate in a Passover Seder

Have you ever wondered what happens at a Passover Seder? Join Temple Beth David for its 2nd-night Passover Seder and find out!

Nicole Simmons, nsimmons@wickedlocal.com

Temple Beth David of the South Shore, a Reform Jewish community in Canton, invited Wicked Local to its 2nd-night Passover Seder on Tuesday, April 11.

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS ARTICLE.

Passover is celebrated eight days in the early spring, from the 15th through the 22nd days of the Hebrew month of Nissan. This year, it started April 10 and ends April 18. Rabbi Sue Ann Wasserman said many Jews celebrate the first night of Passover with a Seder at home and the second night may be at the temple.

More than 70 congregants and guests gathered for Temple Beth David's ritual feast, which was coordinated by Gail Yarosh and Marggi Shechanah. The temple has offered a community Seder for more than a decade.

Rabbi Wasserman, who lives in Newton, explained that the Seder involves reading through stories of the enslavement and liberation of Jews in Egypt, remembering their servitude and celebrating their liberation. Congregants take turns reading from the Passover Haggadah - a sort of Passover guidebooklet - and also sing together, led by cantorial soloist Howard Worona, of Natick, who has been with the congregation for more than 30 years. Some of the ceremony is in English and some in Hebrew.

Many parts of the Seder are symbolic. For instance, the Seder plate includes a lamb shank bone, symbolizing the lamb Jews sacrificed to God the night they left Egypt. Parsley, a green vegetable, symbolizes spring and hope. It's dipped in salt water, symbolizing the slaves' salty tears. Plastic frogs decorated the tables, symbolizing one of the 10 plagues that fell upon Egypt.

Children are included in the Seder rituals. There's a part when they are encouraged to ask questions about the Seder, why things are different that night than all other nights. Temple Beth David didn't have many young children at the Seder, so that part was handled a bit differently.

In the midst of the Seder, those gathered enjoyed dinner together. Guests ate matzah ball soup and a chicken dinner. Jews are not allowed to eat any leavened bread during Passover, in commemoration of when the Pharaoh freed the Israelites. They left in such a hurry, they could not wait for bread dough to rise. Matzah is unleavened bread.